'Emma Wiggle' endured years of pain before she heard of endometriosis

Throughout high school, Emma Watkins’ periods were always accompanied by “terrible” pain and migraines that would leave her in bed for hours at a time.

However, she didn’t think this was anything out of the ordinary - periods were supposed to be unpleasant, weren’t they? Plus, as a dancer, the teen was used to enduring some physical discomfort.

“I guess when you get used to that kind of pain all the time, you don’t think anything of it,” Emma, 28, tells 9Honey.

It would take another 10 years before the Yellow Wiggle, as she's perhaps best known, learned her symptoms weren’t universal.

Like one in 10 women, Emma lives with endometriosis - a disease characterised by tissue similar to the lining of the uterus growing outside of it, causing searing, often crippling, pain and sometimes infertility.

Until she was diagnosed with it in March, the word ‘endometriosis’ had never come into Emma’s orbit - not in her school years, nor in discussions with doctors.

For this reason, she welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement of a national action plan dedicated to improving awareness, diagnosis and treatment of the illness.

“Even when going for scans and tests, I didn’t know anything about it or associate myself with it, either,” the popular performer says.

“I feel strongly about education for professionals and the public. It goes both ways - if they’re unaware and we’re unaware, and we’re not good at explaining our symptoms, there’s no hope.”

“Everyone has such a different array of symptoms, it would be terribly difficult for any doctor to pigeonhole it under the endometriosis umbrella.”

While Emma had unknowingly exhibited signs of endometriosis for more than a decade, her symptoms worsened last year while The Wiggles were on tour.

“For a period of eight months I had bleeding consistently, and then it became every day... I must have just thought, ‘Oh, we’re touring a lot, the environment’s changing’,” she recalls.

“Sometimes we get new cast, and all of our cycles go together, so I thought, ‘Maybe [my body] thinks it’s part of their cycle?’”

She was also suffering migraines and cramping in her legs, which she assumed was muscular pain from dancing.

The process of being diagnosed was a drawn-out one, mostly due to the difficulty of finding time for a doctor’s appointment in Emma’s hectic schedule.

She finally had an ultrasound on New Year’s Eve 2017, but due to the holiday period she didn’t receive her results until January.

“When I had my scan, I wasn’t even up with it to know the circle-like figures on the screen were actually cysts. I thought it was my ovaries,” she recalls.

“There were so many circles and I thought, ‘Wow, she must be getting them from different angles’.”

In March, the word ‘endometriosis’ was first mentioned. One of her gynaecologists told her she was “completely full” of endometrial tissue and urgently needed surgery.

“I was starting to have no space, so the priority was to make sure other organs - the bladder and bowel - had space to function,” she explains.

In April, Emma underwent surgery to have five ‘chocolate’ cysts - so named for the dark colour of the blood within - removed and the tissue scraped away.

Because of the operation, she missed two weeks of Wiggles shows. “I was so blase, and said, ‘Do you think I could wait until September when I have a break?’ But, no,” she laughs.

Four months on, she’s still recovering from the procedure. Working with a physiotherapist to strengthen her pelvic floor has been invaluable, but she’s still living with pain - although it’s “very different” now.

“My periods seem to be almost a ‘flushing’ from the surgery, still. There’s acute pain before it happens, which I’ve never had before - mine was just during,” she explains.

“I had a really bad day on the tour last month. I was completely on the floor, I couldn’t get up.”

Although Emma was back in her yellow skivvy within a fortnight, she had to tailor her on-stage movements to accommodate her recovery.

“I couldn’t lift my legs very high in the air. Most of it was just skipping around, I couldn’t do much,” she says.

“So many people are immobilised after the surgery, they have to take months off work… but I’m almost at normal capacity now. I’m very lucky in that sense."

Over the next two years, doctors will focus on figuring out how to prevent Emma’s endometriosis returning. The question of fertility is one that will have to wait until then.

“Fertility’s not really a thing for me at the moment. If I wanted to have children in future... being stage 4, I’ve been advised I will likely need IVF,” she explains.

“You hear people say, ‘You should have a baby, apparently that fixes [endometriosis]’, but that’s not always the case for everyone.”

Emma strongly believes the government's endometriosis action plan will be invaluable for the thousands of women enduring its excruciating symptoms - and those yet to be diagnosed.

“I really am such a new integration into the endo community … for some of the sufferers that have worse pain and multiple surgeries, I can see the joy in people being so excited,” she says.